Francis by Patrick J. Marrin for June 15, 2023

Sadly, some Bishops think they are the church.

Mr Marrin, beautiful. Just wondering though if the typo in might was intentional.

Oh, delightful! Amen.

To paraphrase Michael Franti, it ain’t about who you love, it’s about do you love?

Always wondered this. There was a liberal Catholic church here that was technically “straying” by being bravely welcoming and early fighters in the AIDS crisis. They had a rainbow flag on the bulletin board and would unofficially participate in Pride and the annual interfaith Coming Out Day service.

The overflow congregation size, for a small neighborhood church, showed how desperately needed and wanted any hint of inclusion was. Many Catholics were traveling outside their parish to hear a loving message and participate in the church. Nothing flashy or controversial, but just sermons and acts true to heart of the Message. While the other parishes were closing and merging, they were thriving. The diocese left them alone as long as they didn’t do anything too off the rails.

Finally, the long time compassionate bishop for area retired, and a hardliner inquisition-ist put in (who was later disgraced for his part in ignoring the real scandal). First thing he did was threaten to shutter the parish if they didn’t start toeing the traditional party line. Down came the rainbows… and away went the joyous, service-oriented congregation.

With another new Bishop, they are recovering, but it was a dark thing to watch unfold.

Thank you, rekam, for spotting the typo. I have submitted a corrected version, hope it will get posted soon.I could blame it on Brother Leo, but he relies on me for such things.

My church does not burn LBGTQ at the stake. Maybe that’s why we have a higher percentage of them in our congregation than the surrounding population.

I like to say that our church runs on the “Three Gs”:

Girl Power – 85% of the volunteers are women.

Gray Power – many of the volunteers are seniors.

Gay Power – they are clergy, volunteers and vestry members.

There’s been a lot in the news about Southern Baptists throwing out congregations that have women pastors because it might lead to even more liberal ideas of accepting gays.

amen

Indeed.